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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25546549">In Los Angeles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/toyhto/pseuds/toyhto'>toyhto</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Inception (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Inception Bingo, M/M, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:22:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25546549</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/toyhto/pseuds/toyhto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There's pizza, conversation, and a lot of memories.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arthur/Eames (Inception)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Inception Trope/Kink Bingo 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In Los Angeles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is written for Inception Bingo for the trope Misunderstanding. But um, well, this is the second story I wrote for that prompt, because due to somewhat undramatic collapse of my laptop, I lost the first misunderstanding-story (the poor laptop is being fixed atm and I don't yet know if I can get my files back). Still shocked. The first story was supposed to be funny as hell (so, probably averagely funny if you like my taste in humor). This story isn't funny at all, it's more like... two people who have HISTORY and are a bit bitter about everything that's happened. Also they eat pizza.</p><p>Rated Mature to be on the safe side.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arthur’s waiting for his luggage at the airport in Los Angeles and his left hand is shaking.<br/>
<br/>
So, they did it.<br/>
<br/>
There’re a lot of things he wants to know, and a lot of things he wants to say to Dom once he gets past both the excitement and the anger. He tries not to stare at Fischer who takes his luggage and walks away looking as sane as anyone. He tries not to stare at Eames, who looks <em>smug, </em>the fucking idiot. But he feels smug too. He wants to go home and sleep the whole day and then take a shower and go for a walk, and <em>then</em> eat pizza and drink good wine and pass out on the sofa. And he wants to walk to Eames, grab the man’s shoulders, shake him and tell him that they did it. They apparently, possibly, probably did it. <em>An inception. </em>Bloody hell.<br/>
<br/>
Instead, he hides his shaking left hand in his pocket, takes his luggage and walks out of the building. He doesn’t look back. In the taxi, he picks a hotel. The sun is shining, and he needs to keep his phone in the pocket or else he’s going to call Dom right now. Or Eames.<br/>
<br/>
Dom texts him as the taxi pulls over at the hotel. <em>Thank you.</em> And then, ten seconds later: <em>sorry.</em><br/>
<br/>
He texts back, <em>I know</em>, and pays the driver.<br/>
<br/>
The hotel hasn’t changed since the last time he was here. He takes his luggage to the room that has a double-sized bed and a television. He could take a shower and then get drunk in here, watch bad porn and fall asleep early. He’s only staying for one night anyway. Tomorrow, he’ll fly to Chicago, and there he’s going to think about what to do next. And decide if he’s going to call Eames or not.<br/>
<br/>
But before the shower and the alcohol and the porn, he needs something to eat. He goes to the hotel’s restaurant. It’s not a fancy place. He orders pizza, and he’s barely had time to start eating, when Eames sits down at the table across from him.<br/>
<br/>
Well, he’s not going to choke for Eames. He takes his time chewing, finally swallows and drinks some of his wine. Then he puts his the back onto the table. Eames has crossed his arms and is inspecting the chandelier or so it seems.<br/>
<br/>
“How was traffic?” Arthur asks.<br/>
<br/>
Eames looks genuinely amused. But then again, Eames knows how to look genuine. “Not bad, thank you for asking.”<br/>
<br/>
“Great,” Arthur says and sips more of his wine.<br/>
<br/>
“And here I thought that you’d tell me I shouldn’t be here.”<br/>
<br/>
“You shouldn’t be here,” he says. The wine isn’t bad.<br/>
<br/>
Eames sighs. “I <em>know.</em> I knew you’d disapprove.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not disapproving, it’s just against the protocol.”<br/>
<br/>
”Well, maybe this is a coincident,” Eames says. Under the table, his ankle brushes against Arthur’s.<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe,” Arthur says.<br/>
<br/>
“Because I like this hotel. I’ve stayed here before, as you might remember. And today, when I found myself in the city and wondered where I should stay the night, I just happened to think about this place.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, me too.”<br/>
<br/>
“But I’m glad I ran into you,” Eames says and takes a deep breath. “Aren’t you excited?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur nods. “Very.”<br/>
<br/>
“You don’t look like it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” he says slowly, telling himself to ignore the accusation in Eames’ voice. But he can’t. Apparently he’s learned nothing. “We can’t all be like you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thank god,” Eames says in a thin voice. “You know, it’s been two years since I’ve seen you without Cobb.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur cuts another slice of his pizza.<br/>
<br/>
“You kind of stopped texting me, too.”<br/>
<br/>
“It was too dangerous.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, well, I would’ve appreciated it if you had let me be the judge of that.”<br/>
<br/>
“You never take anything seriously enough.”<br/>
<br/>
“Darling,” Eames says, leans forward and snatches the slice Arthur has carefully cut. “You always say that,” he says, chewing Arthur’s pizza. He’s got tuna stuck at the corner of his mouth. Arthur brushes the finger against his own mouth and frowns, and Eames blinks at him and then licks the tuna off. ”Thanks.”<br/>
<br/>
“I always say it because it’s usually true.”<br/>
<br/>
“And you’re right about that,” Eames says, leaning his elbows onto the table. “But when have I done anything that’s put you at risk?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur remembers a few times. But the excitement from the inception is slowly fading and underneath, he’s just tired. He’s been following Dom across the world for two fucking <em>years.</em> “I wasn’t worried about myself.”<br/>
<br/>
Something shifts on Eames’ face. “Cobb? Cobb doesn’t need your worry, darling, he should’ve been worrying about you –“<br/>
<br/>
“No,” Arthur cuts in, “no, you fucking idiot. I was worried about <em>you.</em>”<br/>
<br/>
Eames leans back in his chair.<br/>
<br/>
“As I told you.”<br/>
<br/>
“I thought you were kidding. You never worry about me.”<br/>
<br/>
”I <em>always </em>worry about you. And you tell me that I’m overreacting and that I’m being neurotic and that I should relax a little.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again. “Okay, well, you might be right about that. But you’re always worrying about <em>everything.</em> It’s not healthy.”<br/>
<br/>
“I can’t just decide to stop worrying, can I?” Arthur says and stabs the pizza.<br/>
<br/>
Eames reaches over the table and takes the fork from his hand. “Hey. <em>Hey</em>. Don’t kill it, it’s already dead. How have you been sleeping lately?”<br/>
<br/>
“Like shit. I’ve been kind of stressed.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames takes Arthur’s glass of wine, drinks some of it and then puts it back. “Remember the job we did in Madrid? Before all this.”<br/>
<br/>
“Of course I remember.”<br/>
<br/>
“Great,” Eames says. “You were stressed then too.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur empties his glass. If he doesn’t, Eames is going to do it for him.<br/>
<br/>
“Remember what we did after we finished the job?” Eames says, watching his fingers.<br/>
<br/>
Of course he remembers. “Everything’s different know.”<br/>
<br/>
“I <em>know</em>,” Eames says and rubs his chin. “I lied. I haven’t booked a room for tonight.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur stares at him.<br/>
<br/>
“Remember when we were in Stockholm?” Eames asks, looking away from him. “You made me sleep on the floor in your hotel room.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s not how I remember it,” he says, his voice coming out too thin. He doesn’t remember how to say these things. Everything he’s been saying to Eames for two years has been <em>I’m fine, don’t try to follow me, everything’s good, I’m going to be fine, I hope you’re alright, I’m still with him, yes I can’t see you, for fuck’s sake don’t try to follow us.</em> He takes a deep breath and fixes his eyes on Eames’ top button. “You told me you didn’t have a room and that I’d have to share, and after I very nicely got you a mattress onto the floor, you woke me up at the middle of the night and climbed into the bed.”<br/>
<br/>
“Really?” Eames asks, sounding vaguely interested, but Arthur’s almost sure Eames is looking at him. “Did I <em>climb </em>into your bed?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes. You stole my blanket and –“<br/>
<br/>
“And what?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur looks him in the eyes. “And you grabbed my dick and jerked me off.”<br/>
<br/>
“You didn’t have boxers,” Eames says.<br/>
<br/>
“I like to sleep naked.”<br/>
<br/>
“I still think that you don’t seem like a person who likes to sleep naked,” Eames says, “not at all, and I know these things. But anyway, I’m sorry about waking you up and jerking you off. But as you know, I was subtly trying to flirt with you back then.”<br/>
<br/>
“It wasn’t subtle,” Arthur says and presses his ankle against Eames’ under the table. “Stockholm happened five weeks after Buenos Aires. Remember?”<br/>
<br/>
“No, can’t say that I do.”<br/>
<br/>
”You followed me to the hotel and kissed me in the <em>elevator.</em>”<br/>
<br/>
“You kissed me back.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” he says and clears his throat, “have I ever <em>not</em> kissed you back?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” Eames says. “At Mal’s funeral.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur bites his lip. There’s a song in the background, something of Ella Fitzgerald. Something sad. He used to remember the title but now it keeps slipping away from him.<br/>
<br/>
“You had already decided you’d follow Cobb,” Eames says. He still sounds angry.<br/>
<br/>
“He needed me.”<br/>
<br/>
“<em>I </em>needed you.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur doesn’t bother to point out that’s a lie. “He needed me more.”<br/>
<br/>
“I tried to follow you,” Eames says, “as you know. But you’re fucking great at disappearing, darling. You’re the best. You’re <em>brilliant.</em> No matter what I tried, I couldn’t find you.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know. But that wasn’t –“<br/>
<br/>
“You and Cobb. You disappeared with Cobb.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur bites his lip.<br/>
<br/>
“Remember Tokyo?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” Arthur says slowly, “yeah, I remember Tokyo.”<br/>
<br/>
“I told you I was jealous of him. I <em>told </em>you.”<br/>
<br/>
“You were wrong.”<br/>
<br/>
“You said you had been in love with him.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur takes a bite of the pizza. It’s getting cold. He cuts another slice and gives it to Eames. Eames steals his napkin too.<br/>
<br/>
“I was drunk,” Arthur says. “And it had been five weeks since we had started our… thing. Just five weeks. And then you asked me about Dom. I shouldn’t have said that I had been… I never was in <em>love </em>with him, I was just… I might’ve been, if he had been interested. He never was. It passed.”<br/>
<br/>
“Five weeks,” Eames says, “yeah, and what the hell has that to do with anything?”<br/>
<br/>
“It was still new. I didn’t know which secrets to keep.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, well, you became pretty good at keeping secrets later.”<br/>
<br/>
“And you had just fucked me in the ass for the first time,” Arthur says and crosses his arms over his chest. “And<em> then </em>you asked me about Cobb. I was in emotionally vulnerable state.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames clears his throat. ”That was in Tokyo?”<br/>
<br/>
”Yeah.”<br/>
<br/>
”I thought it was in Bern.”<br/>
<br/>
“No, it was in Tokyo.”<br/>
<br/>
“What did we do in Bern?”<br/>
<br/>
“Bought watches,” Arthur says. “Stop being jealous of Dom. It’s fucking annoying. He’s my friend.”<br/>
<br/>
“These pasts few months,” Eames says slowly, “when we’ve been working together, I’ve been kind of waiting for the whole time that you would…”<br/>
<br/>
“What?”<br/>
<br/>
“That one of you would announce that you’re getting engaged. Or something.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur bites his lip. “You’re a fucking idiot.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, well,” Eames says and swallows. “You don’t know what it’s been like, working with you, <em>seeing </em>you for the first time in two years –“<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe I have a clue.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve been wanting to, I don’t know, follow you to the bathroom and lock the door.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur rubs his nose. “And?”<br/>
<br/>
“And kiss you.”<br/>
<br/>
He blinks.<br/>
<br/>
”Not good enough?”<br/>
<br/>
”No, it’s… I would’ve liked that.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames is quiet for a moment. ”Really?”<br/>
<br/>
”Listen,” Arthur says and frowns. ”Want to come upstairs with me?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not sure. Should I? Are you feeling violent?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur takes a deep breath. His heart is racing in his chest, and Eames is <em>smiling.</em><br/>
<br/>
“Don’t look at me like that,” Eames says, but his smile doesn’t fade. “You once kidnapped me in Vienna.”<br/>
<br/>
“No, I didn’t, that was –”<br/>
<br/>
”Yeah, you did.”<br/>
<br/>
”I only moved you from one place to another without informing you first. It was for your own safety.”<br/>
<br/>
“Very kind of you,” Eames says and grins. Arthur hasn’t seen that grin since… well, since Berlin, probably. “That’s kidnapping someone, darling. You should learn the word.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know why I like you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, me neither, but I’m not going to complain.” Eames pauses. “You still like me, then?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur nods.<br/>
<br/>
“You sure?”<br/>
<br/>
“I just invited you to my hotel room.”<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe you were just being polite.”<br/>
<br/>
“Do I look polite to you?”<br/>
<br/>
“No,” Eames says, watching him. “You look like someone I loved who then left me to disappear with his best friend.”<br/>
<br/>
“You never said you loved me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, I did. In Düsseldorf, and Moscow, and Paris, and Peking, and –“<br/>
<br/>
“I thought you were kidding.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why the hell would you think that?”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, you always said you loved me when we were fucking.”<br/>
<br/>
“Darling,” Eames says, sounding a lot like he had when Arthur had kidnapped him in Vienna for his own safety, ”that used to be the only occasion when I could say something like that to you and you wouldn’t tell me that I was kidding.”<br/>
<br/>
“I was a bit busy.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, I <em>know.</em> I was there. Are you going to finish eating that pizza?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur shakes his head. Then he just sits there, watching as Eames eats what was left of the pizza. “You don’t even like tuna.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m hungry,” Eames says.<br/>
<br/>
“Do you still want to come to my room?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” Eames says and looks at him. ”Of course I do.”<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
**<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
The second Arthur locks the door behind them, he realizes he doesn’t know what to do. It’s been more than two years since he’s touched Eames. And he’s spent most of that time trying not to think about Eames.<br/>
<br/>
“Arthur, darling, don’t look so nervous,” Eames says, takes off his coat and walks straight to Arthur’s minibar. “You’re making me nervous and that messes with my natural charm. Can I?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur nods. Eames pulls out a tiny bottle of scotch and drinks from the mouth.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m fucking nervous,” he says and gives the bottle to Arthur. “Have you fucked anyone?”<br/>
<br/>
“No.”<br/>
<br/>
“No?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve been with Dom,” Arthur says. “He’s the best cockblocker known to humankind.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames sits down on the edge of the bed. “Have you at least finally told him that you're gay?”<br/>
<br/>
“I suppose he thinks it’s a phase.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames shakes his head slowly. “You should’ve never left with him.”<br/>
<br/>
“And you,” Arthur says and clears his throat, “have you fucked anyone?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” Eames says, watching him. “Yeah, I have. Should I apologize?”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur takes a deep breath. “No. You don’t owe me anything.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure I do. But maybe not that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah.”<br/>
<br/>
“We never really discussed –“<br/>
<br/>
“I know.”<br/>
<br/>
“And then you left me and made it very clear that you didn’t want me to contact you.”<br/>
<br/>
“For your own safety.”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck off,” Eames says, staring at him. ”Come here.”<br/>
<br/>
”Just like that?”<br/>
<br/>
”We’ve got to start somewhere.”<br/>
<br/>
”We could drink a little more,” he says, “or watch television, or, I don’t know, go out –“<br/>
<br/>
“Arthur,” Eames says, “we aren’t going to go out today. Come here.”<br/>
<br/>
“What if it doesn’t work out anymore? What if we… what if it’s gone?”<br/>
<br/>
“What is gone?” Eames asks, but now he sounds gentle.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know. What we had.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t think it’s gone. Do you?”<br/>
<br/>
“You don’t know that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Arthur, dear,” Eames says and reaches to grab Arthur’s hand. Arthur lets him. Eames’ fingers are warm and familiar. “If the sex is bad, we’ll practice.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur almost laughs, but Eames starts stroking the back of his palm with his thumb and what would have been a laugh comes out startled.<br/>
<br/>
”Remember what I did in Milan? I’ll do that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Eames,” Arthur says, letting himself be pulled forward until he’s standing in between Eames’ sprawled thighs. “In Milan, you sneaked out in the morning and brought me a chocolate cake and a puppy.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh,” Eames says. “Oh,<em> that </em>was in Milan.”<br/>
<br/>
“And it took us two hours to find the person who had lent you the puppy.”<br/>
<br/>
“I told you we should’ve just kept it. Maybe I was thinking about Oslo, then.”<br/>
<br/>
“I think,” Arthur says, pulls his hand free and sits down on the mattress next to Eames. Then he starts unbuttoning his shirt. “I <em>think</em> we could just start with something simple.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, I agree,” Eames says, blinks at him and then catches his both wrists. “Stop that for a second, dear, would you, please.”<br/>
<br/>
Arthur freezes.<br/>
<br/>
Eames takes his face in between his hands and fondles his cheeks with his thumbs. “I missed you like hell.”<br/>
<br/>
“I missed you like hell, too,” he says. “Are you going to kiss me?”<br/>
<br/>
Eames nods. “I think so.”<br/>
<br/>
“You could just do it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, I know. Just give a minute.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m right here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve been thinking about this for two years,” Eames says. “Have you lost weight? I bet Cobb hasn’t been treating you right.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, well, no. He didn’t.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m going to fight him.”<br/>
<br/>
“Eames –“<br/>
<br/>
“He should’ve fed you better. You need to eat a lot. I know it’s hard to realize because you’re so lean, but your brain is working all the time, that’s why you need all that energy. Cobb should’ve known that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Eames?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah?”<br/>
<br/>
“Just fucking kiss me already.”<br/>
<br/>
Eames blinks at him and then clears his throat. ”I still love you.”</p>
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